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עמוד:43
Homer's Sweet Home 1 When sitcoms first appeared on TV in the 1 950 s , the American family was shown as perfect —as the family that everyone wished for . Problems usually came from outside the family and were easily solved by the "ideal " moms and dads in the programs . Since then , television has changed a lot and no longer shows the American family as perfect . The Simpsons , an animated sitcom , takes this one step further . It is a satire of the American family and middle-class society . The comedy presents the American family and society as dysfunctional * . The Simpsons have " perfect" neighbors , so the show even satirizes the families from early television ! . ' The Simpsons is an extremely popular sitcom and may become television ' s longest running comedy . Clearly , people enjoy watching this dysfunctional family handling life ' s problems . In spite of their problems , the Simpsons manage to survive as a family . The characters in the program are extremely likeable , even though they have and cause problems . They make viewers feel that they don ' t have to be perfect or to have a perfect life . Also , the producers of the show greatly exaggerate the problems that the family has to deal with and make the characters into cartoon figures . This gives the audience the distance it needs to laugh . Although the show is a cartoon , it deals with serious issues . Aging , unemployment and loneliness have all been topics for episodes . The show helps to make viewers become awareof these problems . Fortunately , however , the show never becomes really negative . The Simpsons gives viewers the hopeful message that families can overcome their problems . Closer Reading Answer in your notebook . 1 How have sitcoms changed the way they show the American family ? ( paragraph 1 ) 2 According to the review , why is The Simpsons such a popular program , and what makes the Simpson family so likeable ? ( paragraph 2 ) 3 What makes people able to laugh at the program ? How do the producers of the show achieve this ? ( paragraph 2 ) 4 Which two sentences in paragraph 3 show that The Simpsons is not really a pessimistic show ? 5 Look back at the dictionary definition of " satire" on page 39 . Why is The Simpsons defined as a satire ? * dysfunctional — not behaving in a normal way .
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